An area of dust particles swept up in the storm measures up to 200km wide, Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) duty forecaster from Sydney, Jane Golding told AAP. The storm front reached Armidale about 3pm (AEST) on Saturday, and cleared the town half an hour later.It is expected to reach Brisbane and Lord Howe Island about 7pm (AEST). As it continues its journey north the storm front was slowing down, Ms Golding said.
At 4pm (AEST) it was travelling at 50km/h.
"The further away from the source it gets, it loses a bit of dust," she added.
Some of the dust has been swept out to sea. The storm front passed through central western NSW late on Friday, and reached Sydney in the early hours of Saturday morning. By 8.30am (AEST) it had cleared metropolitan areas.
Visibility in Sydney was at 5000 metres, compared to 500 metres on Wednesday, when thick red dust blanketed the city. A BoM forecaster from Brisbane, Ben Annells, said the dust storm would arrive in Brisbane in two waves, both on Saturday evening. (Sydney Morning Herald)